Without Charles?
by VampyrusRed14l
Summary: Apocalypse was gone, right? He was dead. Then why is Charles outside in the rain, without a wheelchair. And why was he screaming? Someone got inside Charles' head and only Erik can bring him back. Who is this monster that caused Charles so much pain? What does he want? How can they defeat an enemy who's inside Charles' head? Story is better than summary. I own nothing.
1. Dreams

Everyone knew that Charles had the most powerful mind in the world. So what would happen when someone got inside his head? If they did, how would they know what fake memories to create that would cause Charles' mind to go haywire? Can Erk and the others save Charles from his own mind? Set after X-Men Apocalypse. WARNING: SPOILERS FOR X-MEN APOCALYPSE. Erik had decided to stay and help Charles. He wanted to help him any way that he could, after all he said it himself, they were brothers. He stayed and became one of the teachers there after helping to rebuild Charles' mansion/school.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What about the rest of the world? Doesn't it ever wake you up in the middle of the night? Feeling one day that they'll come for you and your children."

"It does indeed."

"What do you do when you wake up to that?"

"I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul that comes to my school looking for trouble."

A moment of silence between the two old friends passes by.

"You're sure I can't convince you to stay?" Charles asked, his head slightly tilted to the side. Erik looked back at Raven and the other X-Men in the training room. He looked to the wall and thought for a moment, knowing that Charles would stay out of his head to let him give him an answer.

"You don't need to Charles." Charles straightened up his head to look at Erik. He felt his heart warm up a little.

"You're staying?" Charles asked, eyebrows raised, hopeful.

"Yes, Charles. I'm staying. I'll help you with the children, and...protecting the world." Charles smile and held out his hand. Erik took it and took a step closer to Charles so he could pat him on the back. He left his hand on Charles's shoulder and they both faced Raven and the others.

"Forget everything you think you know. Whatever you learned in school. Whatever your parents taught you. None...of that...matters! You're not kids anymore. You're not students." Raven spoke vigorously. She stood in front of them.

"You're X-Men." Raven looked over at Hank and he pressed a button on the control panel. The doors on the other side of the room began to open. The four X-Men turned around slowly to face whatever was coming through those doors. After a moment of preparing themselves, eight feet tall, purple machines walked through the doors. The four X-Men braced themselves for the battle.

"What are these things?" Scott asked raising his hand to his eyes.

"Sentinels."

" _The_ sentinels?" He asked again. This time Raven didn't speak.

The doors to the training room closed. Charles and Erik made their way to the elevator full of pride for their children. They were waiting for the doors to open when suddenly Charles felt a sharp pain course through his head. He gasped and grabbed his head with one of his hands. Erik looked down at his friend and saw the discomfort.

"Charles? Are you alright?" Charles took a moment to gather himself. Then he looked up at Erik with tired eyes.

"Yes, Erik. I'm quite alright."

"You need to rest Charles. You've been through alot in the last couple of days." Charles simply nodded. The doors to the elevator opened and Erik let Charles in first. They rode all the way upstairs in silence. Charles was too tired and in too much pain to say anything. Erik just thought that Charles was tired. He didn't know about the excruciating pain. Erik walked Charles to his room to make sure he went there to get some rest. He was known for escaping the eye of the others to avoid rest when other pressing matters were on his mind. Charles turned to Erik and spoke softly.

"Thank you Erik. I'll be sure to get some rest. You have my word." Erik nodded, he supposed that was good enough. He would just check in on him later on that night.

"Good. Do you need any help?" He nodded towards the bed. Charles looked where he suggested and shook his head.

"No, I can manage. Good night Erik." Charles gave him a small smile.

"Good night Charles." Erik returned the smile and then left the room shutting the doors behind him. As soon the door shut behind Erik, Charles grabbed his head in pain. He didn't know what was going on. It had never felt like this before, before Apocalypse. H feared that Apocalypse had done something permanent to his mind and powers. He didn't want to have to worry the others about it. Until he was sure that something was actually wrong he wouldn't tell anyone. He might tell Erik when he discovered if it was just because he needed to heal. First he needed to rest. He rolled over to his dresser and pulled out his pajamas and rolled to the bed. He threw them next to his pillow then used his strong arms to lift himself up from his chair and onto the mattress. With much practice behind him he was able to put on his pajamas without any assistance. He lied down so that he was on his back and covered with his soft and warming sheets and closed his eyes for the night.

Erik stood at the door a moment after he had shut it. He worried about Charles. He knew that something was wrong and that Charles knew something was wrong, he just wasn't saying anything yet. He would just have to keep an eye on him; give him a chance to come to Erik telling him everything that was going on and what he thought was wrong. He sighed and then made his way to his room.

The next morning as the sun rose so did the youngsters. Everyone was up at breakfast getting ready for their big day. The teachers were in their own little teacher's lounge. Kurt, Jean, Scott and Ororo were in the break room downstairs eating together. Hank and Raven had woken up and met downstairs to work on something in the lab and then they would join them. Erik woke a little later than usual which was understandable, they had all been through alot.

He walked down to the cafeteria to check on all the students expecting to see Charles down there doing the same. Charles always checked on the students in the morning, when he wasn't teaching class and at night when they all went to bed. It was odd to Erik that he wasn't here, but at the same time it made him glad that he was probably in his room still resting. He needed it, after all he had been the one to endure most of the trauma. So he left all well alone not thinking too hard on it. He would check in on him later. After seeing that all was right with the students he went downstairs to the X-Men wing.

He went to the break room/lounge and found the four X-Men trainees eating their breakfast and enjoying a nice quiet morning. He noticed that Raven and Hank were not yet there so he just went to get a coffee and sat down reading the newspaper.

"Morning, sir." Scott said not knowing what else to really call him.

"Please, just call me Erik. Sir makes me sound older than I am." The others laughed and Erik smiled. Just then Raven and Hank walked in talking about enhancing the quality of the suits to resist others powers.

"Good morning." Erik spoke getting their attention. Raven looked over and smiled.

"Erik, you stayed." She sounded a little surprised, but thankful.

"Well I couldn't let Charles have all the fun now could I?" He said jokingly. To be honest, he was actually really glad he stayed. This place was the first that ever really felt like home. It broke him more and more each time he left it. Raven's hug brought him out of his thoughts and he hugged her back. She let go and went to grab some food. Hank looked at Erik and Erik at Hank. They nodded to each other, a sort of understanding.

Suddenly the class bell rang. All the students were to go on a field trip today so the X-Men could have some time around the school/mansion to upgrade the building for withstanding attackers should the time come. Erik and the others looked at the time and headed upstairs to assist. It took about an hour for all of them to get ready and in the main hall for the buses. They were all standing with one bag each talking amongst themselves. Erik and Raven were talking and Hank was checking the student list.

Finally the buses got there and they began loading up the students when they all heard an ear piercing scream, except they didn't really hear it, they thought it. It was in their heads and they know that one of two people would have the power to reach all their minds at once. Some pressed their hands to their ears, some to their heads, some just bent over or jumped in shock. Erik, Raven and Hank all looked at each other. Hank handed the clipboard to the math teacher standing next to him.

"It's alright everyone! Just listen to your name being called and get on the bus." Hank said.

"That was the professor." One student said.

"Is the professor alright?" Another asked. Erik stood next to Hank.

"I'm sure the professor is fine. He probably just had a nightmare. We all get them. Don't worry. Just go on with your trip and have a good time. I'm sure the Professor would say just the same." Erik reassured them. They did as told and they all quickly got onto the bus and drove away, leaving Erik, Raven, Hank, Scott, Jean, Kurt and Ororo in the main hall. Then they heard another scream in their heads. They gasped and ran to Charles' room.

Erik was the first to enter. He looked around the room searching for Charles. He couldn't find him anywhere. He wasn't in his bed, he wasn't in the bathroom.

"Where is he?" Raven asked aloud with fear and urgency in her voice.

"I've never heard him scream like that Erik something is _really_ wrong." Erik could practically _feel_ the terror in her voice.

"I know. We'll find him. Everyone search the grounds." Erik ordered and nobody second guessed his order. Raven checked all the rooms and all the bathrooms. Hank went downstairs to check all the meeting rooms and libraries. Scott and Jean searched the rest of the house while Ororo checked in the garage and the outside buildings. Kurt and Erik checked outside. They checked the entire grounds. Erik told Kurt and Peter to start checking the woods, they needed to not leave any stone or stick unturned.

About two hours later Erik came across a very old and large tree. At the bottom it was like an extremely small cave just enough room for a full grown man to fit into. And that's where he found Charles. He was curled up on his side facing inside the tree holding onto his head with both hands. Erik rushed over to him and called out his name trying to get him to wake up.

"Charles!" No answer.

"Charles! It's me. You've got to wake up!" Erik ruffled his shoulder. Finally he turned him over. Charles' face was so pale it was scary. He had a small cut on his cheek and a bruise already formed around it. Charles felt cold and clammy to the touch. His cheeks were flushed, a sign of a fever.

"Charles! Char-Ah!" Erik could feel Charles screaming inside his head. He knew that Charles wasn't doing it on purpose. Something was terribly wrong. Another moment later and it was gone. He had to get Charles out of there fast.

"KURT!" He screamed as loud as he could. He knew that Kurt could get them inside quicker, that's why he had brought him outside to look for Charles. Erik turned back to Charles who was struggling to breath, he began to cough.

"Charles. Charles! Wake up! Charles!" Erik shook him with a little more force and this time it worked but he didn't think that he was the reason he woke up. Charles jolted up from the ground and into Erik's arms which caught him before he could fall back down.

"GAH!" He looked around frantically at his location and he struggled within Erik's grasp. He didn't where he was, why he was here? Where had his tormentor gone? Why was he cold? Why did his chest hurt? Why did his head hurt? Oh God! His head hurt.

"GAH! AH!" Charles cried out at the pain in his head.

"Charles! Look at me! Focus on me, Charles!" Charles grabbed his head with his hands like he always does when it was causing him pain. He was finally able to look up at Erik for the first time since being found.

"E-Erik?" He asked. His eyes widened and he grasped his shoulder, clinging to it as if for his life.

"Er-Erik. It-h-h-urts! GAH!"

"I know Charles just hold on. We have to get you inside! You're freezing!" Just then Kurt popped up nearby.

"Professor!" He exclaimed. Peter was there in no time.

"Kurt. Take us to the infirmary, quickly!" Erik rushed out.

"I'll meet you there." Peter said then he disappeared. Kurt leaned down and grabbed both Charles and Erik's shoulders and closed his eyes. He concentrated and soon they found themselves inside the mansion in the infirmary.

"Go get Hank! Hurry!" Kurt stood, closed his eyes, and 'poofed' out of the room. Not three minutes later he came back with Hank and Raven. Then he left to tell the others that they found him. They all hurried downstairs to meet up with the others. They stood there looking at the professor in his state, shocked.

"Where was he?" Hank asked.

"In the forest out back. I don't know how he got there! His chair is still inside." Hank picked him up bridal style and carried him to the examine table. As he set Charles down, he grunted in pain.

"Ah! Hmm. Nggh."

"Easy Charles. Scott reach me some thermal blankets." Scott expertly went into the cabinet on the right and brought 3 out to Charles and helped Hank cover him up. Jean brought over a head cap and put it on Charles' head hoping that would help to warm him up. He instantly felt relief from the cold.

"Ororo could you warm it up a little in here, for Charles?" Erik asked. Ororo came out of her own thoughts and focused on the weather inside the room. Her eyes went white, suddenly they could feel the temperature rise a little in the room. Ororo looked back down at them with her normal brown eyes again. Erik looked at her gratefully.

"Thank you." He said and she nodded. Erik turned back to Charles who was obviously still in pain. He he was moving all around the medical bed unable to sit still with the fever running through him and the pain in his head.

"I can't do anything to help him until he calms down." Hank said with an i.v ready for set up his hand.

"What's that for?"

"The infection. If we leave it the way it is now he could get septicemia, and that can kill him, and fast. And if I can sedate him it might help with his head." Erk thought for a moment. He might be able to get him to calm if only he could get Charles to read his mind, or get inside his head. Erik took a step closer to Charles so that he was leaning against the bed. He reached for a chair and sat down, as close to Charles as he could get.

He faced Charles who was sitting slightly upwards due to the angle the bed was in. He grabbed Charles's right hand that was lying limply by his side and pressed it to his temple. He thought loudly to try and get Charles to hear his mind and focus on it.

" _Charles! I need you to hear me. Charles focus on my voice. Focus on my mind."_ He was having trouble getting Charles to pay attention to him, the pain must be excruciating. Who or what could be doing this?! Charles was the most powerful telepath in the world, he was the only one like him with his power. Erik kept pleading with him to listen to his voice, to block out whatever it was that was causing him that much pain. Somehow it was stronger and Charles was nowhere near Erik's mind.

Erik stood and grasped both sides of Charles head with his hands and looked at Charles. He did the only thing left to do that he could try. Something that always worked with Charles when wanted to get someone's attention with his mind; he screamed.

" _CHARLES!"_ Charles' eyes shot open and focused solely on Erik. As soon as their eyes connected so did their minds. Charles could hear the worry in Erik's thoughts, he could feel it. After their minds connected all Charles hear was Erik's voice trying to calm him down.

" _Charles, just breath. It's alright. You're safe, here with us, you're HOME, Charles."_ Charles' breathing began to regulate and his BP began to normalize so Hank saw this as his chance to get the i.v in.

" _What's that on my arm? What's going on Erik? Why am I so cold?"_

 _"Someone was in your head Charles. I don't know who and what they were doing but somehow you ended up outside last night. Hank is treating you for a fever. Just lie still."_

 _"Erik, I couldn't think straight, I-I-I couldn't hear you. I...how did they get inside my head? What do they want? The pain... Erik...it's coming back! Make it stop! I can't...AH!"_

 _"AH!"_ Charles' pain go to the both of them. Erik gasped aloud and he let go for a moment but then he reconnected with Charles' mind.

" _Erik! This is hurting you, you have to let go of me."_

 _"No! You're in pain too, more so than me. We have to find out what the hell is doing this! Now think Charles. Who's on the other end?"_ Charles fought the pain back so he could focus on the source. It was causing difficulty because Erik was there and if finding the source meant some kind of mental lapse then he needed Erik away from it so he could lead the others into finding this person in physical form.

Luckily hank have the i.v and the medicine going to Charles before the burst of pain from the both of them. It shocked everyone that Erik was going this far to help Charles. They knew that he would help in any way he could when it came to Charles and that he would never really hurt him but, he was in Charles' mind for crying out loud. Raven stood there next to Hank worry for both men apparent on her face. She needed Charles to be alright or she wouldn't be. He was her brother, she needed him to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay and to not worry about him.

Jean, Scott, Ororo, Peter, Raven and Hank looked at their leader. He was like a father to some of them, a brother, a friend. They would make the person who was putting him through this pay. But they needed to get him stabilized first and the new second in charge was even having trouble doing that.

" _Charles! Focus on my voice. I know it hurts but you have to find the source. I am so sorry that you have to do this but you have to connect with the pain, you have to look past it and look for the source."_ Erik rushed in his head hoping that Charles still had some strength left in him to do this. This was their only chance to get the culprit.

" _Ah! I'm trying...I can't break throu-."_ Charles' thoughts stopped completely. Erik couldn't hear his voice, his thoughts nothing.

" _Charles? Charles! CHARLES! Where are you dammit!"_ Erik screamed in his head. His mind suddenly quiet, calm and eerie. He could hear Charles, he couldn't feel Charles anymore.

Hank was keeping an eye on all of the monitors that were hooked up to Charles that he managed to get connected while they were calm and unmoving. He looked to the e.k.g for his brain and he stood quickly and went over to the machine. He began to check all the systems and connection, panicking slightly.

"Hank? What's wrong?" Raven asked standing up. Hank, at first didn't reply, he only kept working around the machine trying to understand the readings it was giving him.

"Hank!" He finally looked over at Raven. Raven saw saddened, worried and pained eyes, she saw something on his face that she knew all too well, fear. One sentence from him sent her heart to the depths of her stomach.

"Charles has no brain activity."

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	2. Fire and Rain

**_"Hank? What's wrong?" Raven asked standing up. Hank, at first didn't reply, he only kept working around the machine trying to understand the readings it was giving him._**

 ** _"Hank!" He finally looked over at Raven. Raven saw saddened, worried and pained eyes, she saw something on his face that she knew all too well, fear. One sentence from him sent her heart to the depths of her stomach._**

 ** _"Charles has no brain activity."_**

"What do you mean 'no brain activity'?" Raven exclaimed frightened. The others looked at each other worriedly, Jean covering her mouth in shock.

"I mean just that. There's nothing here on the monitor." Hank said frustrated.

"Could it have something to do with what's happening to the Professor?" Jean asked. For a moment they were all in deep thought.

"It's possible. But, we have no way of knowing. Only Erik can get him out of this now. If we try to do anything to disturb the connection, who knows what would happen to Charles."

"What if neither of them come out of it?" Peter asked. Everyone looked at him with saddened eyes. What if they _didn't?_

Suddenly an alarm went off, an X-Men alarm. Hank looked at his watch. He designed them certain watches that would alert them if there was some kind disturbance that needed their attention that involved mutants. Then the phone rang. Hank went over to pick it up.

"Hello?"

" _Hank?"_

"Moira?"

" _Yeah it's me. Listen we need your help. Something is going on in upstate New York. We need the X-Men_." Hank sighed. They didn't need something like this to happen when something was wrong with Charles, especially concerning his mind.

" _Hank_?"

"Yeah, I'm here. What time's the briefing?"

" _As soon as you get here_."

"On our way. And Moira. It's just going to be four of us coming."

" _Okay? Is everything alright_?" Hank looked at Raven and the others.

"No, Raven will explain when she get's there." Raven looked at him oddly, well more like she was going to kill him for thinking that she wasn't staying with Charles.

"Raven-"

"No Hank! I can't leave him."

"They can't go on their own. And I need to stay her to keep Charles stabilized. He's going to need someone with medical training. I have Sarah, the new nurse here. We'll keep him alive." Raven looked at him wearily. She knew that Charles would have go and help people who needed. He would say, 'they need it more than I do'. She hates it when she argues with herself using Charles' voice. They were definitely brother and sister.

"Fine! But I'm not happy about this."

"And you shouldn't be. Be careful." He said. She nodded and headed up to the parking garage with the other X-Men following her. Of course Peter was already there and waiting for them. Hank looked on after them, wondering how they were going to get through this. How they were going to save Charles? How were they going to save _Charles_ , without hope?

Suddenly a shock wave emanated from Charles. The shock threw Erik the wall near the door. It did nothing to Hank surprisingly. Then the machine began to go haywire. The e.k.g began to go again showing signs of brain activity. His blood pressure came rose up dangerously and his breathing became labored, but he was stable still. Hank looked over at Erik who was unmoving on the floor. He raced over to give him a lookover.

He was unconscious and his pulse was erratic. He didn't know what happened but Erik had to still be connected to Charles. He picked him up and set on the adjoining table next to Charles.

"Sarah, would you set up an e.k.g for him? I wanna take a look at his brain waves." The nurse nodded and go to work. Hank made Erik more comfortable on the bed the best that he could.

Wherever he was it was dark. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't hear anything, he couldn't even smell anything. He was used to the dark so he wasn't really fearful of where he was. He could handle himself. He looked around and couldn't see anything past anything he couldn't even see his own hand. He found it odd that something like this was in Charles' head. He figured that this is what inside his own head would look like. He didn't know what happened. He was at the school trying to get Charles to wake up. But something was messing with his head. Next thing he knew he was here. He was sure that he was with Charles. He felt some sort of jolt and then he was here. Wherever 'here' was.

" _H...y."_

 _"H...llo...o?"_

" _Er...k?"_ He knew he heard that. It was just above a whisper. He couldn't place the owner of the voice though.

" _...ik."_ He turned around. He kept trying to find the owner of that voice but found nothing.

" _Erik!"_ CHARLES! That was Charles' voice. He started to follow the voice, looking for his friend. He didn't know how long he searched but he didn't hear the voice again for a long time.

Charles didn't know what was happening. He was so confused and lost. He didn't know where he was, he couldn't see anything. The room he was in was white. The floor, the walls, the ceiling were stock white. He knew that he had to be inside his head or dreaming. He turned around in circles looking for something other than the white. Then he saw something other than white in the distance. It looked like a person standing in the middle of the room. He began to walk towards them. They he started to run. For a moment he thought about how good it felt to run. Then he realized, he was running, he was _standing._ He stopped where he was. He looked down at his legs and placed a hand on them to make sure that they were really there. This feeling had never been this vivid in a dream or in his mind before. Something else was going on here.

He looked up to search for that person again and found that they were closer. He began running again ignoring the odd feeling he had when he used his legs. He certainly didn't remember being able to feel anything like this when dreaming about his legs or in his own mind using them.

"Hey!" He shouted. The person didn't respond.

"Hello?" Still nothing. He kept getting closer and closer to the person and he could make out clothes now. The clothes seemed to be familiar. Once close enough to see their face he stopped running.

"Erik?" No response.

"Erik."

"Erik!" He shouted. His friend was here! He couldn't believe that Erik was here, wherever 'here' was. He walked closer to him to try and get him to see him, but there was nothing in Erik's features that said he was aware of Charles' presence. His hope of getting in contact with him was just about to dissipate when he heard Erik say something.

"Charles?" It was soft, like a whisper. He could hear him, he couldn't believe it. Erik could hear him; barely, but he could still talk with Erik, help him to come to the light.

"Erik. Can you hear me?" At first Erik heard nothing but a little whisper.

"Charles? I can't understand you."

"Erik! I'm here." He raised his voice a little hoping that it would help. It did, well enough.

"Charles. I can hear you. Where are you? Where are we?"

"I don't know. I am trying to get to you my friend but my mind..I-I-I-Its', I can't..." Then he felt the hairs on the back of his neck. 'Someone's here' he thought. Apparently Erik heard his thought too.

"Who's there Charles?"

"I..don't know. I can't see or hear anyone. I'm alone." That got to Erk. He wasn't alone, he would _never_ be alone. Erik would make sure of that.

"You're not alone Charles, I'm right here."

"I'm alone. I always have been. My stepfather made sure of that. And so did Apocalypse. No one is really with me are they? They don't know what goes on in my head. They don't understand what I believe."

"Charles! What are you talking about? You're surrounded by people who care for you who believe the same thing you do. We're on your side Charles were here with you. You just have to wake up."

"Can't wake up. Can't go back. It hurts there! There's so much pain! Too much...too many voices. They speak to me, they say things. I don't want to stay and I can't go! Why? Why are they all talking at once?!" Charles began to hear voices again. He started to feel the pain, their pain, Erik's pain, his pain. It was all too much.

"Make it stop! Make it STOOOOOOOOOOP!" Charles screamed. The black walls surrounding Erik and the white walls surrounding Charles shattered revealing the dead land of Egypt, where Apocalypse tried to take over Charles' body. There was metal and dust flying every which way. He wondered how this was possible at first since he could control metal but he remembered that he was in Charles' mind, anything he wants to have appear will appear. The metal and mineral flew in swirls in the air from the ground to high in the sky. It got thicker as it's center which was on a small hill just a few yards ahead of Erik.

Erik began to move forward to the center to see if he could help whoever was causing this. His first thought was that it was him but then he thought that it could be Charles. He tried to move a piece of metal with his powers and nothing happened. So it has to be either Charles or someone else. He began walking faster towards the center and found it difficult. The metal that was flying around was sharp and dangerous. He had to jump forward as a large shrapnel of metal came his way and almost took his head off. He kept moving forwards thought despite the cuts and stabs from all the metal.

It took a while to fight off metal shard after metal shard to get to the source. It was painful and he wondered if he was actually feeling this pain.

Everything in the room started to shake. The trees outside were moving side to side as if a tornado was moving them. The water in the lake was splashing around like a hurricane, the earth began to quake. It was only when they heard a ringing and screams in their heads did Hank realize that it had to be coming from Charles. It was Charles doing this. His powers were out of control. Hank looked at Charles and saw his state. He had to ignore the pain and help him.

Hank was beginning to freak out. Charles' vitals were erratic and unstable. He heart rate was too fast, his blood pressure too high, he was struggling to breath and his brain waves were all over the place. Erik's condition was similar. His brain waves were just above normal and his blood pressure was slightly high. He kept grimacing as if he was in pain. Hank and Nurse Sarah started an i.v and gave him something for the pain, hoping that it would help whatever the hell it was he was going through. Hank turned back to Charles who was still unstable and he was trying to get his vitals to normalize but nothing was working. It was up to Erik.

It took, what felt like hours, only minutes for him to get to the top of the hill. He could barely make out a figure in the center of all the disturbance. He tried to reach through but something sharp just nicked his hand. He yanked it out quickly to avoid further injury. He focused his eyes trying to see if he could identify who it was at the center. He saw a figure kneeling down in the center. They were clutching their head as if in uncontrollable pain. Before he screamed for them someone from behind him pulled him around and threw him a few hundred feet away.

"Ah!" He cried out, mostly from the surprise of the attack. He looked up to see who the attacker was. He expected to see them far away but they were right there in front of his face.

"Hello, Erik Lehnsherr. Or should I say, Magneto?" The one spoke with malice in it's voice. Erik was staring at it not believing his eyes. This creature had no face! No eyes to see, no mouth to speak, no ears to hear, nothing. The shock of it gave the being the chance to slam Erik down onto the ground floor.

"Who are you?! And what do you want with Charles?!" He yelled.

"Why tell you when you're part of my plan?" It asked. It's voice was raspy, like gravel, it gave Erik chills.

"What plan? What could you possibly gain from his torment?" The creature turned its head to the side studying Erik.

"Power." It simply said. Then suddenly it was gone. Erik stood and searched around for it, he turned every which way searching for the beast but found nothing. He decided to leave it be for now. He needed to get back to Charles. He looked back at the hill and saw him standing in the center. He wasn't clutching his head anymore, he was looking up, but not to the sky. No, he was looking up at the creature who just used Erik as a punching bag.

"CHARLES!" Erik screamed. Charles didn't turn to face him, didn't acknowledge him. He began to run, he ran as fast as his legs would take him. He got closer and closer and closer to Charles as he ran. He reached the center and stood at the edge not trying what he did last time.

"Charles! Fight it!" He tried to connect with Charles. He knew that the monster was doing something to Charles, he just didn't know what. He thought for a moment, thinking of a way to get Charles out of his own head, to escape. Then he thought of something. Whatever that thing was, it was tapping into Charles' pain. All he had to do was get Charles to think about something else. He took a few steps back and braced himself. He took a moment to take a deep breath and then he jumped inside the center to Charles. Surprisingly he made it there, in one piece. The thing didn't move it kept its hold on Charles who was still where he was.

Erik went over to Charles and faced him. Charles' face held a blank stare, his eyes were solid black. Erik knew that something was controlling Charles. He had to get that monster away from him. Erik grabbed Charles by the shoulders and looked into his eyes.

"Charles!" He didn't receive any indication that Charles knew of Erik's presence. So Erik shook him to try and get his attention by physical contact.

"Charles! It's me! Don't think about the pain. You have to think about something else. Charles!" Finally Charles looked at his friend, he actually _looked_ at him.

"Erik? You shouldn't be here. It's not safe."

"Charles listen to me. This is not you. It's that...thing! It's inside your head, controlling what you think about, what your powers react to."

Hank tried to keep him stabilized but everything was just going nuts! His heart rate, his blood pressure, his brain activity, his entire body was not acting right. If whatever this is didn't stop it was going to kill him. Just then the noise in their heads got louder, and louder, eventually they covered their ears to try and dull the sound but it was in their heads, they couldn't do anything to stop it. Just like they couldn't do anything to stop all the glass in the house from shattering as Charles got worse. His power was doing that due to the distress from inside his head.

"Hurry Erik!" Hank shouted knowing that he probably couldn't even hear him.

"You have the power to stop it Charles! Only you! You have to let go Charles!"

"I can't! I don't know how! There's too much!"

"Look at me Charles! Focus on me!" And Charles did. But he was still getting the pain from him, from his past and what happened with his wife and daughter.

"No! No! No! Your pain hurts me the worst I can't Erik!" Erik then realized that it was both of them who would have to let go of their pain. They would have to let go of it together. His pain caused Charles pain, he knew that but he never really thought about it. So what he did next, would leave them wondering about their feelings and what they meant to each other, they were brothers!

"Charles! Remember what you taught me? How you helped me to control my powers? 'Focus on the point between rage and serenity.' You taught me that. You, Charles! Only you could have helped me to become stronger. To be better than what I was. You gave me piece, a family, a home. Remember that Charles? Your students, your friends, Raven, me. Remember Charles."

The force within him grew and Charles couldn't help but scream in agony! He lost his focus and Erik almost lot him. Charles grabbed his head and was about to use his powers to make Erik go away but Erik acted before he could. Erik sensed that Charles was to to do something before he did so he jumped on him. He grabbed onto Charles' head with both hands on either side of Charles' face and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Come _home_ Charles!" And that's all it took for Charles. He reached deep inside his mind to look for that place. That special place that could make him calm down and help him to regain control.

The metal in the air, the screaming in Hank and Sarah's ears, the trees and water outside their heads. Everything just stopped. Charles was flooded with passion, with happy thoughts. Some were of him and Raven as children, growing up together, laughing, smiling. He saw images of the students, how loyal they were, how much they cared about their professor. He saw Hank and the others having dinner with him they were talking about all sorts of things with them laughing and enjoying their lives together. Then he saw the moments where he and Erik played chess. That a signature thing for them. He saw all the times that they joked around and became closer and closer as time went on. Then he thought about Erik's lips on his. He wasn't alone, he never was. It was foolish for him to think so.

They sat there and looked into each other's eyes. Charles' eyes were back to normal and they had tears falling from them. Erik sighed with relief that he was seeing the old Charles, their Charles back.

"See." He whispered. Then they heard a roar from behind them and they turned to look. The thing that was controlling Charles was significantly smaller but still powerful.

"This isn't over. I shall return for you Charles Xavier! You're mine!" It hissed. The beast spread it's arm and then it screamed. A beam of light burst from within it's chest and consumed everything. Feeling no pain their world went back to darkness.

Hank was checking all their vitals and they were calmed a little but still a little too wacky. He gave them something that should stabilize them. He was checking Erik's pulse when their bodies jumped. He jumped back as a response to not inure either him or Erik. After no more movement from them Hank check their vitals again. To his relief, they were normalizing. Hank went over to Charles and checked his e.k.g response, it was slowly going back to normal. He sighed and hung his head in relief. When he heard a grunt come from the professor he looked up with wide eyes.

"Charles?" He asked carefully. Charles opened his eyes a slight crack and looked at Hank before closing them again. Hank worried for a second that he went back inside his mind but the e.k.g showed that he was just simply sleeping. Erik woke with a start and sat up quickly gasping. Hank had Sarah settle Charles in for the night, then went over to Erik.j

"Hey take it easy. Your mind just went through some pretty crazy stuff." Erik looked at Hank then around the room and saw the mess. There were sheets and pillows on the floor, the medical equipment was everywhere it looked like some kind of abandoned hospital.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I'm guessing either you or Charles. But you couldn't have moved the fabric so,"

"Charles. How is he? Is he alright?" Hank patted him on the shoulder, not knowing the true reason behind Erik's urgency.

"He's alright. All his vitals and brain activity is returning to normal. We just have to get rid of his fever and hope that he doesn't get worse."

"He went through all that and now he has to get through some stupid flu?" Erik shook his head and situated himself in the bed more comfortably. Hank looked down with sad eyes then back at Erik, and he caught it.

"Not the flu, hypothermia." And that crushed Erik's heart. That was dangerous to have, could be fatal.

"I've already got the treatment for it going, Sarah started on it as soon as he woke up."

"He woke up?"

"Only for a second. He's sleeping now." Hank looked over at Sarah who was covering Charles up with another warm blanket.

"Raven and the others?"

"Moira needed them. I'm sure it wasn't anything big. They can handle themselves, Raven's with them. Erik nodded. Hank was right about that. But it was what they had to deal with that worried him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Moira. What do you need?" Raven asked as soon as she saw Moira McTaggert standing at a post in a field in the middle of nowhere. Moira looked up from what she was reading and walked over to greet her. Raven got used to her after she realized that she, like Charles, were fascinated with the X gene in mutants.

"We had word of some kind of creature in the woods over there. Witnesses say that it wasn't any 'normal' animal. We were hoping that you would check it out. Since you can change form we thought that it would be easier for you to earn it's or their trust." Raven thought for a moment and she was right. Not only could she transform into a person she could transform into an animal. Their best bet was her. She nodded.

"Okay. I'll be right back." She walked towards the treeline and as soon as she was out of sight she changed into a fox. She walked around sniffing for anything unusual. She tracked it down for about an hour or two and she finally came to a small clearing. There was the animal she was looking for. It was small and shaking, and facing her. She had fur that covered her entire body. Her claws retracted in and out, on high alert due to the unknown presence of Raven. She had a small snout with whiskers. Her eyes were black and unblinking. Her tail stayed still pointing outward an animal's tail would when in a defensive stance.

It was looking at her, it knew that she was following it. It knew that she wasn't what she seemed. Raven moved closer to the animal and transformed to her natural form. The animal raised it's head and looked at her with wide eyes, it crooked it's neck as if studying her. Then suddenly they began to change form too. And after a minute or two, a girl about the age of Jean appeared. She had no clothes obviously so she curled in on herself.

"Hi." Raven tried. She didn't know if she could speak english let alone speak at all. The girl just looked at Raven with awe. Then to Raven's surprise she spoke.

"H-hi." Raven smiled.

The others kept their eye on the treeline waiting for Raven to come back either mauled or alone. When she came back in her regular form and a small girl next to her they were surprised. The two shapeshifters walked up towards the others and someone brought her a blanket.

"We can take her to the school. We still have plenty of room."

"Should we exactly be doing this there, _now?_ You know with the _thing_ we got goin on and everything?" Peter asked skeptical about the idea of having an unstable mutant at home with the Professor in his state.

"Yes, Charles would kill us if we took her somewhere else. She needs to be with us." Raven said. Peter put his hands up in surrender and smiled.

"We'll need to just talk to her about her family first, if that's okay?" Moira asked both Raven and the girl.

"I think it's best if we do that at the school. She'll be safer there. And she can get comfortable." Moira nodded.

"Of course. You go ahead. I have to debrief but I'll make sure that it's just me that comes." Raven nodded and she went to the car with the girl, the others following behind her.

"So what's your name?" Jean asked with a warm smile. Scott, Kurt, and Ororo all waited for an answer from the girl.

"Chloe. My name is Chloe."

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	3. Home and Family

By the time Raven and the others got back to the school it was raining outside. They sky was covered in clouds, concealing the bright sun from them, making the temperature even lower. Chloe wouldn't let go of Raven, so she led her into the school with Chloe by her side. The others just followed behind silently, not knowing what they could say. They were interested in Chloe, yes, but, their minds and hearts were still on the Professor.

Raven took Chloe straight to the infirmary so Hank could look her over, make sure she was okay. Raven could feel Chloe look around the mansion while they were walking, clearly shocked to the massiveness of it.

"She must be hungry, I'll go and get her something to eat." Jean said.

"I will help you." Ororo followed Jean into the kitchen.

"Come on Kurt, let's go get her a room ready." Scott suggested. Kurt nodded and they left towards the dormitories. Peter went with Raven and Chloe down to see Hank, and the Professor. When they walked down the stairs and into the infirmary Charles and Erik were nowhere to be found. However Sarah was still there straightening up the room.

"Where's Charles and Erik?" She asked, worried about the two men.

"Hank moved the Professor to his room. Erik felt he would be more comfortable there." Raven knew she was right. Charles would be fighting them tooth and nail until they let him at least go back to his room. She smiled at the thought.

"Raven. You're back." Raven turned around to see Hank standing there.

"Ah, there you are. What happened around here? The yard looks like how Storm reacted when Scott messed with her hair." Peter asked.

"That's a little hard to explain. Who's this?" Hank asked with curiosity in his voice. But Raven could tell that he was exhausted and worried about Charles.

"This is Chloe. She's a shapeshifter. She's having a little trouble staying human." Raven gave her a slight smile. She returned it to Raven's surprise.

"Well, I guess you'll be here with us for a while. Only if you want to. We don't make anyone stay here if they don't want to." Chloe looked at Hank, then at Raven. After about a minute or two she shrugged her shoulders.

"That's okay. I'm sure once you meet Charles you'll want to stay here." She gave Chloe a big reassuring smile.

"You'll never want to leave. Trust me. He's a good guy, the Professor." Peter chimed in, hoping that what he thought would also help.

"Chloe, why don't you go with Miss Sarah here. She'll take you upstairs to have a look around the place."

"Sure." She said nodding. Sarah walked over from where she was witnessing the conversation to lead Chloe upstairs. Hank and Raven waited until they were out of earshot to start talking again.

"How is he? Did Erik get him out?" Hank looked at her. She had been seeing that face all day and she was about ready to smack it off his face.

"Yeah, he got him out but he still hasn't woken up yet. Erik' awake and he hasn't left Charles' side. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep." Hank said with something else on his mind lingering.

"What happened in there? Did he say anything?" Peter asked.

"He didn't say much. Just that whatever it was, it was powerful. And he couldn't use his powers in there. He didn't say anything but I know that whatever happened in there had him pretty shaken up. I've never seen him like that before." Peter listened to Hank's words carefully. He wanted to tell Erik about him being his father but the more he thought about it the more hesitant he was bout telling him. Right now wasn't

"There's something else isn't there?"

"Charles has some sort of infection. His white blood cell count is decreasing. His fever is worse, his breathing isn't so good...he might have pneumonia. We were able to get the hypothermia to calm down. He was showing signs of getting better but then I tested his blood and that's when I found out about the white cells."

"Did he get it naturally because he was outside all night long or was it something else?" Peter asked his head tilted to the side in his serious pose.

"Honestly I can't say. I won't know anything for sure until he wakes up."

"And Erik?" This time Raven asked the question.

"Erik thinks that it has something do with whatever it was in Charles' head."

"What was it?" Hank looked at both of them for a moment and knew that they weren't going to like his answer.

"I don't know." Peter lowered his head in dejection. The professor meant a lot to Peter. More than the Professor knew, he looked up to the Professor. He saw him as mentor, a teacher, a Professor. He wanted to catch the sorry beast who did this to him and make him pay.

Raven saw the look on Peter's face and she knew. She knew because she felt the same way. Charles was her brother and no one get's away with hurting him!

"I promise, Peter. We'll find whoever did this. And he won't get away with it." Peter looked at and saw her face, he believed her. He straightened up as if to say that he was ready for anything, and nodded. Raven looked to Hank who was grinning proudly.

"I'm gonna go see Charles. Chloe is gonna need a checkup after she eats and gets some rest. Moira will be coming by to talk to her, ask her what happened." Hank nodded.

"Do her parents know?"

"Probably not." Raven said in a plain voice.

"Her parents should at least know that she's okay." Raven stood there in thought for a moment. Hank was right. They at least deserved to know.

"Moira will talk to them."

"You know Charles will want to talk to them as soon as he gets better."

"Yeah I know." Raven smirked then left the room patting Hank on the shoulder. Peter turned to leave but stopped.

"Hey Hank?" Hank looked at him from his seat at the microscope.

"You need any help with anything?" Hank looked at him confused.

"I just...I need to do something you know? I mean the Professor he...I don't know...he...sort of gave me a family, so." Hank nodded.

"You know, there is _something_ you could do." Peter crooked his head in confusion and slight wonder. He wasn't so sure he liked the smile on Hank's face.

Sarah had shown Chloe the last of the rooms and she brought her to the kitchen where Jean made her some soup. She sat at the large table in the dining room and started eating almost immediately.

"This is really good. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Jean said sitting next to her. They were quiet for a few minutes until Scott and Kurt came into the dining room.

"Here." Kurt offered her a blanket and she let him drape it around her shoulders. Scott sat across from her and Jean.

"We set up your room. It's yours if you want. No pressure, no rush. You can take your time deciding." She smiled in thanks and nodded. She kept quiet while she ate her soup. Scott and Kurt talk about the school. They explained that there were classes she could take and she could do extra curricular activities. They told her about the students who were currently on a field trip and many other things they did and had there. Raven walked in to check in on Chloe.

"Hey." Jean said, she stood and met Raven at the doorway.

"Hey, I just about to go see Charles. I wanted to check on Chloe."

"She's okay. I made her some soup and the boys actually got her talking. They're just telling her about the school."

"Good. We have someone who's contacting her parent's. But, don't mention that to her. We don't know how she'll react. She just needs rest and friendly faces." Jean nodded.

"I'll keep an eye on her. Don't worry she'll be fine." With that Raven left for Charlie's room.

As she walked towards the room she thought about how Erik was doing. It must have been hard for him to go that deep into Charles' head. And whatever Charles went through Erik went through it too, at least part of it. She had a pretty good idea about how they felt about each other. Hank said the he hasn't left Charles' side since that night. She hoped that she could convince him to get some rest and food. She'd tell him it's what Charles would want, and it's true.

Next thing she knew she came up to the door. She took a deep breath and walked inside. She saw Charles on the bed. He was unmoving except his breathing, which was slower than she liked. His face was pale and looked to be clammy. He had dark rims under his eyes as if he wasn't sleeping. Raven knew that was due to stress and pain from the attack on his mind.

The room was lit only by a few candles on Charles' night table. She smiled at that, she knew that Charles liked lighting up candles when it was raining outside. He said it gave him peace of mind, that thought it was dreary, wet, and cold outside, there was still warmth and light. The thought of rain made her look towards the window where she saw Erik standing. He was stand still with his legs spread about two feet apart to keep his balance with his arms folded across his chest. He was just standing there looking out into the rain in deep thought. She slowly and quietly walked up next to him and looked outside too. She glanced back at Charles, then at Erik.

"Any change?" Her voice was soft and low, almost a whisper. She looked at Erik expecting some sort of angry burst of him wanting revenge, but what and how he spoke next showed Raven a whole new side to Erik she never saw before.

"No." His voice was low in pitch and volume. It sounded to Raven as a man who was losing someone he love to cancer or something, a man who wanted to give up on everything, a man without...hope.

"What did it look like?" Erik already knew that Hank would tell her what he told him so he knew what she was talking about.

"It was like a shadow. It had no face, It's voice...it was so full of malice and hatred. It seemed as if it knew Charles. Like he had done it wrong once in the past. It was like he believed that Charles deserved what was happening to him."

"Was it a mutant who was getting in Charles' head or-"

"Or was it all in his head? I don't know. Apocalypse got into Charles' head he could have done anything while in there. But, Charles would've known. He's too smart to have someone in his head and not have some kind of warning when he tried to do something. Charles is the strongest telepath there is, the only one of his kind."

"So you do think it was Apocalypse."

"Or some form of him."

"He was hard enough to defeat the first time how are we going to do it with him inside Charles' head?" The question went unanswered as Erik walked away from the window and went to stand at the foot of Charles' bed. He put both hand on the foot board and hung his head low to his chest in hopelessness. Raven turned to look at him. She looked at Charles and after a moment she went to sit down on the left side of bed, near the i.v. hookup, Erik's chair being on the other side with the door. she reached out and grabbed Charles' hand. She gasped a little at how cold his hand felt.

"He's so cold."

"It's the hypothermia. Hank said he should get warmer as he gets better." Raven looked back to Charles. She brought her hand up to his forehead and cheek to check his temperature. His skin was still clammy. They stayed there with Charles, each of them with the two most important people in their lives.

Once Chloe was finished eating Sarah and Jean took her down to Hank to give her a check up. The boy's and Ororo had nothing to do so they started straightening up the rest of the house. Peter went normal speed though to pass the time by, he figured it would help. Ororo decided she would try to get the sun to come on and get rid of the blasted rain. But before she did she thought about how the weather at that moment was a representation on how they all felt. She put her hands down and went back inside, she left the weather as it was because they needed it. They needed something that they could see that showed what they were feeling.

The check up with Chloe didn't take very long. She was quite the healthy teenager. After Hank took her blood pressure, heart rate, temperature he took a sample of her blood to test. He did everything else a normal doctor would do for a normal check up. It didn't take very long.

"Well Chloe, you are probably the healthiest teenager I have ever seen." Chloe smiled at him.

"Thank you."

"Now I'm all done here. You should go get some rest. You've had a long day." She nodded and as she and Sarah walked out of the infirmary she yawned.

"Do you need any help down here with anything, sir?"

"No thank you Jean, I'm just gonna run some tests." Jean nodded and started to head upstairs.

"And Jean?" She turned to look back at him.

"You don't have to call me sir. You can just call me Hank...or beast. The boys seem to think that's my real name." He smile sheepishly.

"Okay. I'll be upstairs cleaning up a little." She started to leave but stopped. She thought for a moment looking at Hank, then she realized that no one had asked how _he_ was doing with all of this. She walked back in the room and sat down on a chair near the beds.

"Hank." He turned to look at her.

"Yeah?"

"How are you?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm fine. Gonna need to put some locks on these drawers or something, ha."

"No, I meant how are you feeling about what's happening to the Professor. I've noticed that you've been so worried about everyone else, you haven't talked to anyone." Hank looked to the floor. She was right. He had been so preoccupied helping the others he didn't even think about himself.

"You and the Professor had known each other for a long time haven't you?" She asked already knowing the answer to that question. Hank took a seat at his table and turned to face her.

"Yeah. Over ten years. He taught me a lot about my powers, how to use them to become stronger, faster. He did that for all of us. He gave us someone to look up to, someone to teach us more about what was right and wrong and how the line in between can be blurred sometimes when we're grieving or in pain." They both thought of Erik at that.

"Charles is more than friend to me, he's like a father. Sean and Alex considered him a father to us, too. He did things a father would do. He took us in, he took care of us, he taught us to understand things as they are not as they appeared to be." Jean was beginning to understand. She too had begun to think the Professor as a father figure of her own.

"I guess...I'm devastated. Charles doesn't deserve this, he's done so much good for other people. He gave them courage and strength, hope. Without him, what hope is there?" Jean couldn't say anything else to that. Hank returned to his work leaving Jean with her thoughts as she headed upstairs.

Everything was back in place and neat in the mansion. The kids had settled down in the upstairs living room listening to some music with the fire going. Scott was teaching Kurt how to play video games and Ororo was sitting on the small sofa near the door just watching the rain. Jean was reading her favorite book, which also just happens to be the Professor's favorite book. She finished a chapter and then up at the fire, deep in thought.

Ororo was thinking about the Professor too. She didn't feel guilty anymore about what happened with Apocalypse. Charles had assured her that she was with the wrong people. Apocalypse had lied to her, to all of them. He used them for his own bidding and that made her hate him even more. Now that Charles was sick, and Apocalypse being inside Charles' head being the main suspect, she absolutely _despised_ him. She wish he hadn't died. She wished that he had all of his powers taken away and never able to obtain ever again.

Ororo's anger was showing in the storm outside that just increased. The thunder shook the house as it roared. Lightning struck the ground nearby, the wind was so strong, it was blowing the rain sideways. The others looked up towards the walls and ceiling as the house shook again after another roar of thunder. Upstairs Erik and Raven looked outside the window at the monster attacking the earth. They knew that it was Ororo. Something must be wrong.

"You stay with Charles, I'll check on her." Erik said hurrying out the door. Raven moved from the window and went to sit next to Charles on the bed. She reached for the bowl of water and pulled out the wash cloth. She wrung the excess water out and wiped Charles' face with it to help with his fever.

Erik rushed downstairs to look for the kids. Once he spotted Jean and Scott standing facing the window he knew that they thought the same thing. He walked into the room and saw Ororo sitting near the window tears on her cheeks. He walked over to her and knelt down infront of her. He placed a comforting hand on her knee to get her attention.

"Ororo?" She immediately looked at him. Her eyes solid white.

"We'll get Charles back. We will stop whatever it is that's happening to him." Ororo considered his words carefully for a moment. With tears falling from her eyes they changed back to their normal colour. Immediately the thunder and lightning stopped. The rain died down to a slow sprinkle.

"Why is this happening to him?" The tone in her voice and his feelings for Charles broke his heart. They were a family and Erik and Charles were their leaders, and Charles was...sick.

"What are we going to do without the Professor?" Ororo asked. 'What are we going to do?' Erik repeated the question in his head. He hugged Ororo and let her get her emotions out. 'What are we going to Charles?' Erik thought. The others were thinking the same thing; What were they going to do?

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Hope

_"Chloe! Listen to me. I've been here before. We find a way out after a certain amount of time, not our time has passed. This..." He pointed to the black nothingness._

 _"...Is our way out. Trust me." Chloe looked at him. She looked at the open hand he reached out to her. She could tell that he truly believed and hoped that this was the way out. She started to feel comfortable with him enough to trust him. So she decided, and she took his hand. They turned towards the the hole in the ground that was a few feet from them. They looked at each other and then looked back down. They both took a deep breath and jumped._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chloe woke to the smell of wet grass, snow and feeling very cold. She looked around her and saw that she was outside still at the Xavier mansion. Behind her she saw two girls sitting in an area of the patio that the snow and cold missed. The two girls stood and looked at Chloe as she came back to reality. They stood there still staring at each other.

"Jean?" Chloe tried to speak but words were not what she heard. She heard a wolf howl. It was then she realized that in her dream state she must have transformed and then sleep walked outside. Jean and Ororo must have followed her to make sure she was alright. That made her trust everyone here even more. Before she realized what she was doing she was transforming back into human form, forgetting that she had no clothes. She stood there naked in the cold snowing air at night. The two girls stood there for a moment, not used to someone changing from animal form to human form.

Jean walked forward an gave Chloe her robe. She wrapped it around her and they walked back inside where Jean and Ororo took Chloe to her room. Jean helped her find clothes and get comfortable while Ororo started a fire in the common area just down the hall. After a few minutes they all three sat on the couch next to the warm fire.

Charles slowly became aware of where he was. At first it was dark and he realized after a moment that his eyes were closed. He immediately tried to open them but found it very difficult. His first attempt failed, so he kept trying. Eventually he was able to open his eyes a small crack. He couldn't see anything still, his eyes not open enough and too blurry. He closed them again tightly. The light was starting to make his head hurt.

He needed to wake up and the only way he was going to do that was if someone started to talk to him. Since he couldn't see and really couldn't move he grunted. At first he didn't think that anyone heard him, but then he heard someone speak.

"Charles?" With the fuzziness in his head and the pain, he didn't realize at first that it was Raven who spoke. The pain in his head suddenly increased to an unbearable peak and he grunted again. Raven was sitting on the side of the bed reaching her hand out to cup his cheek, trying to get him to look at her.

"Charles! Open your eyes. Please, look at me." Charles struggled to open his eyes, he wanted to open them. He wanted to look at Raven's face, to see her eyes and her smile when she realized that he would be alright. For some reason he just couldn't open his eyes. They were too heavy and he was too tired, he just couldn't; until the door opened to reveal someone else.

As soon as they entered the room Charles could sense their mind. He could sense what they were feeling and when he knew that, he knew who it was. He immediately started working on opening his eyes but it was very hard. As he was working on seeing who this person was to be sure that it's who he wanted it to be, they walked towards the bed. Charles knew that it was a man, he just knew just by being near his mind.

As he sat on the bed and grabbed Charles' right arm, he said only one word in his mind, knowing that would be listening. And as soon as Charles heard his voice, heard that one word, that one name, he knew.

'Charles.'

 _Erik._

Charles' eyes shot open to see Erik sitting there, to his right, with a small smile on his face. Charles couldn't help but smile outside and inside of his mind at Erik. For a moment there wasn't a care in the world for the two men. All that they were aware of was each other. That is until the exhaustion hit him again and he closed his eyes.

Only a second for him and he opened his eyes again to see that it was a different time of day, mid-day to be exact. He supposed that he fell asleep just as quickly as he woke up. The two people from before plus two more were in the room. He could see and think clearer, more lucidly. He attempted to sit up but was quickly stopped by four hands, two of them were blue and furry.

They helped him to sit up rather than to lay back down, for which he was grateful. He sat against the pillow that Hank had just set behind him and closed his eyes. He could hear the uncertainty in everyone's minds about him falling asleep again when he had finally woken up for more than five seconds.

Moira had come to see about Chloe when she heard about Charles and decided to see how he was doing and if there was anything that she could do to help. Just being there was help enough Raven had told her. Just believing that they weren't the monsters that most of the humans thought they were was more than enough. They considered her part of their family, and that made her feel like she was one of them.

"I'm alright. It seems a bit bright in here for me at the moment." He could also hear them all mentally sigh. After Charles had gotten settled, Erik thought he should move and stand with the others but he found himself unable to move from his friends side. He hadn't been there for Charles after he lost his legs or when he locked himself in his mansion and felt he should be able to walk instead of being mutant.

"How are you feeling? Any dizziness? Nausea? Pain?" Hank asked calling out the symptoms of a concussion just to be sure. With Charles it's likely that he could get an injury similar to a concussion. Charles only shook is head.

"I'm alright Hank." His voice sounded quiet, strained, and weak. It pained their hearts to see him this way. He was always so strong, put together. He was their leader, teacher, friend and father, it's hard to see someone of that character to be so helpless.

"I at least to examine you first. Take your vitals and temperature. You were outside all night when we found you." Charles looked at Hank confused. He didn't remember that. All he could remember before he woke up was bits and pieces of what he saw in his dream, being in pain, and feeling very cold.

"How's the girl?" Charles asked stunning everyone. He could hear most of them asking in their minds, 'how did he know?'. Raven and Erik wasn't all that surprised really. They should've known that he would want to know what happened while he was asleep and reading their minds, except Raven's, would tell him just that, without letting anyone talk him out of that conversation.

"We can talk about that later, Charles. Once you've been looked over and had some real rest." Charles would've argued his point in needing to know but he was suddenly too tired to protest so he just put his head back onto his pillow. Everyone except Hank walked towards the door. Erik looked to Raven and spoke softly.

"Why don't you check on the children. Let them know that he's awake." She nodded with a smile on her face. She was so happy that Charles was awake. She didn't know what she would've done if he hadn't. That made her think of what happened. Someone did this to him, and she intended to find out.

"We have to find who did this to Charles. And we have to make them pay." Her and Erik exchanged a look of anger, desperation, and determination. He nodded. He also wanted to make whoever did this to Charles pay. He didn't deserve it. Charles only did anything to help someone, not the opposite. He could only think of one who would want Charles this badly, _Apocalypse._ Raven left to go downstairs and talk to the others. Erik stayed inside of Charles' room, refusing to go anywhere. No one would get him out of there now that Charles was awake.

He walked over and sat in the chair near where he was earlier. He sat with one leg over the other and folded arms across his chest. He looked on as Hank tested all of Charles' vitals. Charles' eyes were closed and had a furrowed brow. Erik couldn't tell if it was because of the pain, the pneumonia or if he was just simply thinking.

"You could say it's all three of those options but you know I would simply deny them all."

' _Damn!'_ Erik thought, blocking that message from Charles. Then he smiled at his old friend.

"I know. Which is why I'm trying to decide which one it is." Erik replied smoothly.

"You've still got an infection. It's taking longer than expected to get it out of your system. I'm not sure why. It could be that your mind has been so focused on helping itself that it gave less attention to the infection." Hank expertly spoke his advice. Charles swallowed and licked his lips, signs that his mouth was dry. Erik went over to the nightstand and poured him a small glass of water. He brought it over to Charles and sat on the bed, the same spot where he sat when Charles woke up.

He helped Charles to sit up further and to take a few sips of the water. At first it shocked Charles' sore and dry throat and it made him cough. Erik and Hank had to hold him steady until the coughing fit was over and Charles could settle back down. They tried again this time going slower and he was finally able to take a drink. He moaned in satisfaction then closed his eyes for a moment.

"Thank you." Was all that he said. Erik moved back to sit in the chair. Charles had to pretend that he didn't notice.

"Of Course." Erik said. Then Charles asked a question that the two mutants were expecting to hear.

"How are the children?" Erik laughed inwardly and Hank gave a small grin.

"They're fine Charles. We gave them some time to spend with their families until we could get all of this sorted."

"All of this sorted? Hank, Charles was attacked using his powers! If that's how you phrase catching the monster who did this then you have a poor choice of words."

"Please. Just make sure that they're alright." He looked at Hank giving him a pleading look. Hank sighed, nodded his head and left the room.

A few minutes of silence passed after Hank left. Erik sat quietly piddling with some tiny metal ball he had made from scrap metal from downstairs. He kept thinking about how he got out of that 'dream'. How he was able to get that 'thing' out of Charles' head and free him. He wondered if Charles truly believed that he meant what he said. That they were family, brothers, and that he has a family here that cares for him, and not just Erik and Raven; the X-men and Charles' children. He hoped that Charles didn't believe that he was alone.

"What?" Charles asked out of nowhere. 'Crap!' Erik thought.

"Sorry?" Erik decided to play dumb first, to make sure that he was talking about what he was thinking about.

"Erik. It's don't have to be ashamed or embarrassed. I know that admitting your feelings like that is opening yourself up in a different way. We are a family, and you are my brother. You saved me, Erik. Thank you." At first Erik _was_ embarrassed, but then he realised that Charles was right. What did it matter if they knew that he felt that they were family? All that mattered was that they _were_ family.

"Of course I'd save you Charles. I would never forgive myself if i let you die. " Erik never admitted to weakness in front of anyone. Charles was somehow able to let anyone just open their hearts to him. Erik felt that it was easier to bear a heavy load if he told Charles everything he felt. It felt good to tell him these things. It was exhausting to hold things in. He just wanted them all to be safe and happy. But at times it can be hard to just let someone know _everything_ you're thinking or feeling. You have to have some privacy, don't you?

"Now you must get some more rest. You need to gain your strength. I'll have Raven bring up some food for you later." Erik stood and walked towards the door. Charles watched him and nodded.

"Good night Erik."

"Good night Charles." With that Erik shut the door. He shut it with so much force that it almost slammed, but he caught it. He didn't want Charles to know that something was up with him, of course he probably already does seeing as he can read his mind. And when he can't read his thoughts he can read his emotions and that would be a problem. He walked away from the door and went downstairs to get a drink.

Charles sat in his bed and he thought for a moment about the memory of how Erik got him out of wherever they were. He remembered what happened, yes. But, he also remembered what Erik was _feeling_ in that moment. He didn't want to say anything though. That would just push Erik to ignore and avoid him at all costs, and he didn't want that. He wanted Erik to know that he wanted nothing more than have him stay and help them. But whenever someone he cared about got hurt Erik wanted to leave. He says it's to get vengeance or justice or something or other, but Charles knows that it's a coping mechanism, a very unhealthy coping mechanism. He just hoped that Erik wouldn't give in to it this time.

Charles' eyes began to droop and he became extremely tired. He decided he would have to figure it out tomorrow. As he was going to sleep he couldn't help but feel crestfallen. And so he fell asleep thinking about how they would find out who did this and why. They needed to know if it was just aimed at them or if it was some master plan like what Apocalypse tried to do.

The next few days were rough for Charles and Erik. Charles got sicker and sicker, wasn't showing signs of getting better. Erik was getting more and more paranoid as each day passed. He would ask where everyone had been and if they were around other people, and for how long. If they went outside they had to change clothes and take their shoes off before going in to see Charles.

Charles would cough and cough and cough. His throat was raw and dry so he could barely talk so he used his mind as his way of communication. His fever kept spiking a few days at a time. He could barely eat or drink, although a warm drink did soothe his throat some. Erik and Hank had to help him to the bathroom, he wouldn't let anyone else help him with that. Sometimes he would cry out or scream something in his sleep. Sometimes it was out loud, sometimes it was with his mind, and sometimes it was only to a certain person. The only two he would ever single out were Raven and Erik. Which didn't their worry about him, it only made it grow.

Erik was worried. Raven was worried too. Everyone was worried. Raven went in to see him everyday and she could always tell when something was wrong. Of course she knew that he was sick but she could tell that being cooped up in this room practically the entire time he'd been awake was making him feel gloomy. He liked to go outside and smell the fresh air, hear the birds around them, feel the nice warm sun and the cool breeze against his skin. It nearly broke her heart to know that.

His breathing became labored and hard to do. His lungs were weak and couldn't perform much. Hank had said that only 20% of his right lung was working properly. This infection he had was another kind of pneumonia. It made them wonder if someone had _given_ it to him and enhanced it somehow. Eventually his lungs wasn't working properly at all and Charles couldn't breathe. So Hank was forced to do what no one wanted to see, he had to tube him, put Charles on a ventilator. Charles would only be half awake when he was awake.

She had brought it up while she and Erik were downstairs by the fireplace. He was reading a book and she was just staring out the window. It was January and there was still snow falling outside. She had always thought that it was beautiful. No matter what she thought about her mind always found a way to think about Charles, to worry about Charles. She knew that he wouldn't admit to how bad he felt, only say that he needed to rest and he would be 'as good as new'. Raven looked over to Erik who was still reading his book.

"Erik?" Her voice was so soft and quiet it was childlike. Erik looked up at the sound of his name. Even in her true, blue form, and crying, she was beautiful. But the pain and sadness in her eyes broke his heart.

"He's...he's gonna be okay right? We're not gonna lose him. Are we?" Raven couldn't help the tears that flooded her eyes and threatened to coat her cheeks in salty tracks of water. She was too tired and too desolate to care. Erik took one look at her eyes and he let go of his tough, thick shell. His eyes matched hers in ways of the physical kind and the emotional.

"I don't know." It pained Erik to say it but it was true. He didn't know if Charles could survive this, whatever it was. There was no way that it was a normal infection. If it was, then biology became a lot harder for him to understand.

"But, he's strong. He's the strongest person I know, Raven. Charles never gives up either, not when it comes to life and death."

"Charles doesn't give up on anything." Raven commented. They both smiled. It felt good to smile, it felt really good.

"He will get better. He'll be up and teaching in no time. And we'll find whoever did this and they'll wish they never knew Charles." Erik was as surprised at his own words as Raven was. Erik was always the one to look at the darker side of things. He always thought of what would happen if things went bad. He spoke and thought of failure, of falling down and not being able to ever get back up. Until he did something that he had never done before.

He hoped.


End file.
